


Down Where the Sea and City Meet (May All Your Troubles Soon Be Gone)

by mydogfoundthechainsaw



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: M/M, So Sweet you will die
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-03
Updated: 2016-01-03
Packaged: 2018-05-11 08:46:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5620684
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mydogfoundthechainsaw/pseuds/mydogfoundthechainsaw
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Somehow, Barry convinces Len to help him put away the Christmas decorations. There's demonic talking snowmen, horrible singing, and surprise Star Trek fans. Basically horrible after-Christmas fluff.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Down Where the Sea and City Meet (May All Your Troubles Soon Be Gone)

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, the title is from Coldplay's Christmas Lights. Although I prefer the Yellowcard version.

    Len wasn’t sure how he’d gotten dragged into putting away the West’s Christmas decorations. Vaguely, he recollected being asked about this early one morning, after Barry had stayed the night. But he would’ve said no if he’d realized the sheer amount of Christmas paraphernalia the West’s possessed. He couldn’t decide who in the household was the main contributor to the problem.  “Allen, where does this snowman go?”

“Is it the fun one, the glitter one, or the demonic talking one? Cause if it talks, trash it. Iris and I have been trying to get rid of that thing for years."

Beady black eyes stared up at him, and he found himself, for not the first time, wishing he’d actually came to the Christmas party, when everything was in action. “Come on in! It’s warm inside!” the thing suddenly piped up. Its head hit the floor with a satisfying thunk. “I’m so glad you’re here!”

“Oh my god. Can—I should’ve gotten that on video. The famous Captain Cold startled by a talking snowman. Shouldn’t he be your buddy or some…”

Barry drifted off, possibly because he was curled into a ball, tears streaming down his face. Len would have gone over to him, if not for the minefield of ornaments that surrounded his boyfriend. He had a sneaking suspicion that if they ever lived together, the decorations would be even worse. Because he had a slight penchant for lights and blowup Santas. Although who was he kidding—that would never be an option. “We have to keep it now. I forgot all the fun times we had with it,” Barry wheezed out. “Iris and I used to come up with all these tactics to avoid it going off. It’s better than the Halloween one, though.”

“Talking snowmen are no joke. Who knows what crazy things that reactor did to the weather here.”

Sometimes, pulling out the Wells card was a bad idea. Most of the time. “Even Mardon won’t admit to that. Does the cold gun talk to you now?”

“The ice has some good plans—“

“The ice has some good plans? Is it the one who comes up with all your horrible puns, because they’re actually quite terrible.”

The smile Barry had on was the one that made Len wonder why no one else had scooped him up before now. “All part of my biting charm, Allen. It’s why you fell for me.” And Barry laughed at that, and Len wanted to taste the electricity trapped within.

If they weren’t trapped by the holiday spirit, he would’ve suggested they head off somewhere else. But the talking snowman still stared at him, with those happy eyes, and something about the spirit of the season compelled him to keep helping. There was a sizzle, as if Barry had read his mind. “I haven’t had a lot of opportunities to use this,” he said, and Len followed his eyes up. Mistletoe. Laughter filled the house for a second, and the ensuing kiss was sloppy, teenagers in a closet, happy and unafraid.

He pushed the other man away—which took quite a bit of effort—and sighed. “There are things to be put away, my dear.”

The other man vibrated, displeased, and he wondered when he’d begun to notice the moods off such simple cues. “You’re right. Joe’ll be back soon.”

“Where is the lovely detective this evening?” Having not met the man outside of clashes with the police, he still felt he was reserved a bit of distaste.

“Wallace.” Barry was reabsorbed in repacking ornaments, and barely looked up.

"He’s…he’s his son. They just met, on Christmas, so they’ve been spending a lot of time together.”

His voice was a mixture of happy, proud, and bittersweet. After learning about the misadventures of Iris and Barry, he couldn’t imagine how terrible the house would’ve been with another West child. Somewhere, in another universe, there was a him without Lisa, and he couldn’t imagine how that felt. “Have you—how is he?”

“Surprisingly like Joe and Iris. It’s been a lot for him—for all of us.”

“So I should probably avoid him too?"

Barry just laughed and turned up the music. It was “Cisco-approved,” which generally meant it was loud and poppy and made him feel old. It was also something he’d heard way too much of at the safehouses. Mick had a liking for Taylor Swift.

Around the fifth song he broke. Lisa had always told him that he singing was “more than adequate,” but he avoided doing so around his lovers. The way Barry was looking at him, though, made him regret that. If he was a crazy man, he’d say it was love. But he settled for directing the lyrics—it was a love song, of course—to Barry. When this thing, whatever it was, was over—and it had to end sometime—he’d have that, at least, in his memory, the thought of making the lightening in his eyes dance happily.

“No, you have to watch the original series. It’s different, yes, but the newest movies don’t do it justice. I—“

Len had just hit the high note of the song. There was no other excuse for neither of them hearing the door unlock, and the heavy footstep of Joe and Wallace West. Their stares could either be blamed on the fact that he, Captain Cold, was serenading Barry. Or, more likely, the tinsel and lights Barry had thrown at him two songs ago. It clung to him desperately, and he was aware he looked ridiculous. “Hey. I’m…um…Wallace West.”

The kid stuck his hand out, obviously thinking this whole thing was dealt with a long time ago. Joe was entering angry mode, but he gripped the kid’s hand back. “Leonard Snart. I’m—“

“He’s my boyfriend. Joe, you know Len.” Barry was next to him now, smiling and crackling with energy. “He’s been helping with the Christmas breakdown. Thought I’d get it done this year.”

Everyone except Joe was smiling. But the detective wasn’t frowning either, although now the kid could feel the tension in the air too. Finally, Joe took a prolonged breath. “I was wondering what happened to the outdoor lights.”

“That was me.” He was starting to slide back into his Captain Cold-ness, as Barry would say, a way to deflect the anger that was certainly coming.

“Huh. Next year, come and put them up too, and then we’ll talk. Bear, where did you put the Star Trek box sets?”

Well that conversation was over quickly, but with a lot fewer bullets and anger than he’d predicted. He owed Lisa some money. The kid—Wallace, he should remember when he returned—smiled and nodded and followed his father into another room of the house. He felt like getting into an argument with Joe about which series was better, and furthermore, bringing Star Wars into the mess. But it probably wasn’t best to push his luck. Plus, now he had an excuse to binge the original series. Lisa was right. He was hopelessly in love.“See, I told you Joe wouldn’t kill you.”

Barry sounded way too pleased. "You organized this. You made me deal with that fucking snowman—“

“So Joe wouldn’t kill you? Yes. Hate me?” His body was vibrating with success and pleasure, and Len wished his cold gun could find a way to freeze that smile just to have it forever.

“No,” he replied, feeling the words he should say but shouldn’t on the tip of his tongue. So he settled for a kiss. “Like I keep saying, you and I work wonders together.” And Barry felt happy, alive, electric and Len knew then he would deal with a million demonic snowmen if it meant he could keep having moments like that.

**Author's Note:**

> I am also a disgustingly sappy person. You're welcome. Also, that snowman? Tommy the snowman. And it is fucking terrible.


End file.
